James Anderson has proved himself as one of the most skilful and prolific fast bowlers in England's history. His talents have been particularly apparent in Test cricket where his command of swing bowling, especially on his home grounds, has been the stuff of artistry, bearing comparison with any swing bowler in any age. He has been an integral part of three victorious Ashes campaigns and became the first England bowler to take 500 Test wickets, leaving Ian Botham's previous benchmark of 383 a mere dot on the horizon. His one-day career has also had its moments as he gradually became adept at bowling in a more defensive fashion, but it is as an attacking swing bowler where he has had few peers.

Anderson's 500th Test wicket came in September 2017 when he dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite in a Lord's Test against the West Indies. It was a delivery that illustrated his talent, coming down the slope to hit middle stump (his 501st - to bowl Kieran Powell - was even better). He became only the sixth player, and third pace bowler seamer after Glenn McGrath (563) and Courtney Walsh (519), to reach the landmark and admitted to feeling emotional. "Normally it's anger but today it was a bit more, not quite teary but emotional. I don't get like that when trying to focus on my job and it took me a bit by surprise."

Anderson has been something of a contradiction. He has had a reputation for being shy and uncommunicative off the field, except in the company of close friends, yet on the field his verbal aggression, which he has argued is necessary to conquer that diffident character, not always endeared him to opponents or critics.

For the first six years of Anderson's international career, the best way to sum up his bowling was to paraphrase Mother Goose: when he's good, he's very, very good - and when he's bad he's horrid. But when the force was with him, he was capable of irresistible spells, seemingly able to swing the ball round corners at an impressive speed.

Anderson had played only three one-day games for Lancashire when he was hurried into England's one-day squad in Australia in 2002-03 as cover for Andy Caddick. He didn't have a number - or even a name - on his shirt, but a remarkable ten-over stint, costing just 12 runs, in century heat at Adelaide earned him a World Cup spot. There, he produced a matchwinning spell against Pakistan before a sobering last-over disaster against Australia.

Five wickets followed in the first innings of his debut Test, against Zimbabwe at home in 2003, then a one-day hat-trick against Pakistan, but his fortunes waned. For a couple of years Anderson was a peripheral net bowler as attempts to change his action to avoid injury affected his pace and rhythm. That oft-predicted stress fracture kept him out for most of 2006, but he still made the Australian tour and the World Cup. And suddenly, in the absence of the entire Ashes-winning attack in the second half of 2007, Anderson looked the part of pack leader again.

New Zealand were blown away at Trent Bridge in 2008 (Anderson 7 for 43) during a summer that earned Anderson the honour of being named among Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. In May of that year, he made the West Indians looked clueless at Chester-le-Street (nine wickets in the match); and back at Trent Bridge in 2010 Pakistan's inexperienced batsmen could hardly lay a bat on him (5 for 54 and 6 for 17).

In 2010 Anderson came of age in a staggeringly comprehensive fashion. No longer content with being unplayable when the mood caught him, he took the decision to shelve the "magic balls" and concentrated on hammering out a rock-solid line and length, with dot balls and maidens his new holy grail. The upshot was a scintillating year in which he proved unhittable in every sense, with an economy rate that ramped up the pressure in every spell, and a range of weapons that made him a threat on every surface.

A career-best 11-wicket haul against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, when he came as close to unplayable as at any time in his career, was the prelude to a breakthrough tour of Australia in the winter of 2010-11. Anderson arrived to a torrent of doubters, who recalled his forlorn performance on the preceding Ashes four years earlier, in which he had taken five wickets at 82.60. But he left with a series-sealing 24 scalps at 26.04, and a reputation transformed.

Deadly with conventional swing and seam, and with a new line in reverse swing as well, he had become arguably the most complete fast bowler in the world. In 2013, fittingly at Lord's, a ground where enjoyed much success, he became the fourth England bowler to reach 300 Test wickets when he had Peter Fulton caught at slip. The previous year he had eased past Brian Statham's 252 Test wickets to become Lancashire's most successful England bowler.

He was awarded the Freedom of Burnley - his home town - in 2012, which was also his benefit year. When he began the 2013 Ashes with a match-winning 10-wicket haul at Trent Bridge his form showed no signs of abating, but the following nine Tests against Australia were far less successful and his reputation had taken something of a hit by the time a chastened England returned home after the battering down under in 2013-14.

Anderson took 37 wickets in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India in 2014, but his reputation was sullied by a verbal confrontation in the first Test at Trent Bridge with India's Ravindra Jadeja and accusations of pushing and shoving on the way in the dressing room corridor. India insisted that his behaviour had become unacceptable, but the resulting ICC investigation could not separate the truth from the lies and both men got off lightly.

By then, England's bowling records looked bound to fall his way. He passed Botham's record Test-wicket haul in the Caribbean in 2015 and shortly afterwards reached 400 against New Zealand at Headingley. His fitness remained exemplary, his action as rhythmical as ever, and his appetite still powerful enough to imagine, as he passed his 33rd birthday, playing for another five years. A northern spring, Sri Lanka the opposition, cheered him with three five-wicket hails in successive Tests in Leeds and Chester-le-Street in 2016, but a shoulder injury marred his summer and he was innocuous on Indian pitches as England slumped to a 4-0 defeat that winter.

That Anderson's left-hand batting has also steadily improved from his early days as a fully paid-up rabbit was illustrated in that Trent Bridge Test when he struck 81 in the first Test against India at Trent Bridge - his maiden first-class fifty - as he shared a Test record stand of 198 for the tenth wicket with Joe Root in the first innings. He has served England with distinction as a nightwatchman on numerous occasions and went 54 Test innings before collecting a duck, an England record. At Cardiff in 2009 he survived for 69 nail-chewing minutes to help stave off defeat by Australia. He has also been an outstanding fielder, strikingly so for a fast bowler, lithe in the outfield and sharp in the catching positions.

ESPNcricinfo staff

Read More

Timeline

May 31, 2002 A star in the making

After impressing for club side Burnley, a 19-year-old James Anderson makes his first-class debut for Lancashire against Surrey at Old Trafford. Takes four wickets in the game including Mark Ramprakash for a first-ball duck in the second innings.

December 15, 2002 Flying start

His promising first-class performances earn him a call-up from England's academy side to the one-day team in Australia. After an inauspicious debut he impresses with late-swing and composure. A remarkable spell of 1 for 12 in 10 overs at Adelaide isn't enough to bring England victory, but does secure him a place in the squad for the World Cup that followed.

February to March 2003 Hero to zero

England looked like they had unearthed a gem when Anderson used the heady atmosphere of the Newlands evening to bowl England to victory over Pakistan. His man-of-the-match 4 for 29 included Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana in successive deliveries of darting away-swingers.

Two games later he crashed down to earth as Australia came back from the dead at Port Elizabeth to dump England out the World Cup . With Australia needing 14 runs to win from the final two overs, Anderson's attempted slower-ball was carted for six and the next ball for four to make the finish a formality.

Despite his fatal final over he returns for his first home season of international cricket as England's latest saviour. His duly delivers 5 for 73 on his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord's before taking six wickets in the second Test at Chester-le-street.

June 23, 2003 Hat-trick hero

His bowling continues to fire as he records England's first ODI hat-trick against Pakistan at the Oval and persistently troubles the touring South Africans as England take the Natwest series.

July 2003 Hot-streak comes to an end

Sporting a new red streak across his hair, finally his rocketing start began to wane as Graeme Smith's broad bat proved unbreachable. In a thrilling five-match series shared two Tests a piece, Anderson falls behind Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison's rising profiles. He finishes with 15 wickets in this series at 39.86.

Enters a long a frustrating period of his career where a combination of injury, management interference and even the odd Test match provoke much naval gazing and hand-wringing from England supporters.

While Michael Vaughan developed and polished the fab-four as England mobilised for the Ashes charge, Anderson found himself on the periphery. A single Test in Colombo followed by a few Tests against the West Indies at home included only the occasional flash of his talent, such as his 4 for 52 at the Oval that included Brian Lara.

In between he cut a disconsolate figure, bowing perfect overs against a single cone in practice while England were winning consecutive series.

March 18, 2006 Returning with the ring of fire

After English cricket stumbled upon reaching the summit of the 2005 Ashes victory, Andrew Flintoff's Jonny-Cash inspired side overcame a glut of injuries to record a memorable victory against India in Mumbai. Anderson proved pivotal, taking 4 for 40, including Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, in the first innings and Virender Sehwag for a duck in the second.

May 2006 Injury strikes again

Just when England needed Anderson to build a side for the upcoming Ashes defence, he went down with a stress fracture to the lower back that ruled him out of the 2006 home season.

Having barely had any match practice, Anderson was included in Flintoff's team of crocks to challenge Australia at the Gabba. Unsurprisingly he struggled, taking 1 for 195 in the match. His luck didn't improve as England were crushed by Ricky Ponting's relentless team.

March to April 2007 Another failed World Cup

Having bowled himself back into form through England's victorious one-day series in Australia, Anderson duly broke his finger and despite displaying his heart for a fight by battling through the pain to play in England's hopeless World Cup campaign, he was never at his threatening best.

July 2007 Rolling back the years

Having made his debut five years earlier, Anderson seemed something of a veteran by 2007. Yet he was only 24 and after half a decade of coaches messing about with his action, Anderson took matters into his own hands. He returned to the head-ducking style that launched his career and announced himself as a genuine threat again with 5 for 42 against India at Lord's.

His penchant for inconsistency moved some to label Anderson 'daisy'. Some days, such as his blistering 5 for 73 against New Zealand at Wellington, he does. Some days he doesn't, such as the next Test at Napier where he took 1 for 153 from 24 overs in the match. However as England desperately looked to move on from 2005 by ditching Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison, Anderson was elevated to 'leader' the attack.

May 2008 to September 2009 Strauss's man

As England went through from Vaughan to Pietersen before settling on Strauss as their captain, Anderson became a more vocal figure in the dressing room and on the field. Visibly growing into his senior role he became Strauss's go-to bowler and his nerveless batting at Cardiff secured England a crucial draw in the opening Test before his 4 for 55 in the first innings helped skittle Australia at Lord's and set up an Ashes victory.

ABOUT COOKIES

We use cookies to help make this website better, to improve our services and for advertising purposes. You can learn more about our use of cookies and change your browser settings in order to avoid cookies by clicking here. Otherwise, we'll assume you are OK to continue.